Fast Rode the Knight

[Gir Quee]

Arendal-class Heavy Cruiser Arendal, in orbit via Lantillies

"And the plans?" questioned the grand admiral.

Lod hesitated. Gir supposed the question seemed ridiculous given the setting. Despite being one of the smaller mess halls, Lieutenant Lod and Gir had a ridiculous amount of space given the normal lack of it on a starship. Cooks and serving droids had arrayed a variety of glasses, stacked plates, and silverware on the table in front of them. the only thing absence was the actual food and drink, though it would appear soon enough. It was nearly dinner time on the standard schedule, and Gir had to eat soon with his schedule. But he did not want to waste any time with eating when he could also use it as a friendly invitation to more serious governmental work. Lod finally replied after what appeared to be a brief daze.

"All of the plans are onboard the approaching shuttle. The shipyards did not want to risk a signal interception by a spyship or a hacker."

Gir nodded, "Good, bring them in here when they do arrive on station. Any word on the other shuttle?"

Lod's big eyes seemed to almost imperceptibly shift to the right for a second, "The ArmaTech one?"

Gir nodded, "The same."

"On its way," said Lod, "they will be here for dinner shortly."

[member="Draco Vereen"]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Invited to dinner by the Grand Admiral. It was a kind gesture, and not one I wanted to give up, but one I found odd and didn’t feel comfortable with given my lowly status as a Master Chief. He extended the offer to ArmaTech Combat Systems, but even still I wasn’t sure about his motives. As a warrior I fit in perfectly in combat, leading troops, or commanding tanks; as a business man I had adapted to the role of salesman and designer very well; but as a statesman or civilized man, I hadn’t quite hit my stride. Formal dinners, even formal meetings were odd. I decided not to wear my new Beskar armor, as it was still unaltered and I felt it would bring my loyalties into question, nonetheless it pained me to keep it locked in a case somewhere. “How long until we arrive, pilot?” I asked the man flying the shuttle.

“A few more minutes and we should arrive on schedule and safely.” He responded promptly. Ever since taking a crew to Mandalore the men had held me in more respect. I had worked in the pits down beside them, as I always intended to do, and always would. Even now the very small group only consisted of myself; Benji Idiro, the chief designer; Kira Rauter, the droid programming specialist; and a pilot.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

I had decided, not knowing why we were asked for that business attire would be the most suitable, as had Benji, though it had been impossible to convince Kira of the like so she wore more entertainment style clothing. “I don’t see why you guys are all dressed up anyway. You don’t even know why we’re here.” She said, mocking us. I knew it didn’t hurt to impress and I had brought my armor, which the mando’s had called my true skin, but I doubt the Republic see’s it the same way.

“Its better to look presentable and adjust as necessary, but you do whatever you want. You made it quite clear you can make your own decisions since you don’t own any percentage of the company.” I responded. Benji smirked in his seat as the shuttle began its final approach.

“Arendal this is the Cutting Edge seeking permission to land.” The pilot said over the comm-channel. The shuttle decelerated to port speed as it approached the warship. Moments later, “Permission granted. See you aboard.” Replied over the channel. Good we were expected. Within five minutes we had landed aboard the mighty ship and were greeted by several Galactic Republic soldiers to escort us to the Admiral. The Pilot remained with the shuttle, and the three of us, a young warrior, an elderly duros, clad in proper suits, and a young woman in a cocktail dress walked into the small formal dining room.

[member="Gir Quee"]

 

[Gir Quee]

Gir watched the ArmaTech Combat Systems people filter into the room. During the time when the Cutting Edge had landed in the Arendal's hangar bay, several of other people had joined Gir in the room. His duros aide-de-camp, Lieutenant Lod, stood at the front of the room, greeting the newcomers into the room and directing the members to their assigned seats. Several Lucerne Labs engineers were present to. Gir's adopted brother, the mon calamari Salmakk, sat at his right hand side while one of their electronic specialist, the bothan female Azira, sat next to him. Next to Azira sat two engineers directly employed by the Republic. Randy Terrik, a rather large man with graying hair, and Glith, a renowned starship engineer. Both of them had worked on the Steadfast-class Star Cruiser project with him. Rising from his seat, the grand admiral waved [member="Draco Vereen"] and Benji to take up seats just to the left of the man. He stretched out a hand to the master chief and the duros engineer.

"Welcome aboard the Arendal, Master chief, and Mister Benji. I hope your flight was not too rough..."

Gir knew that formalities didn't really have to be entertained, but still, as he looked around the room, he saw almost a dozen people whose work went unrealized to the public at large. People often thought of the soldiers and their weapons in the news holos, but how many people thought of the minds that went behind to making the soldiers's victory possible by making their gear? Gir knew that there were countless more engineers, technicians, drafters, droids, and specialists who were not present here, but whose work made possible the technological marvels and terrors that the Republic military ran on. At the very least, he could render those present the courtesy and respect that was not often given for their contribution to making the galaxy a better place.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

"Thank you, Grand Admiral," I replied as I shook the man's hand. I walked over to the table and took my seat with Kira on my left after helping her with her chair, and Benji to her left at the table. I could see looking around the room there were plenty of other engineers, designers, and physicists sitting at the table. I began to realize that the Grand Admiral was up to something big. Something he wanted us to build or finish designing. That was the only reason to call this many people of similar backgrounds together. Weapons designing, even on a massive scale was relatively easy, and didn’t take a dozen people to do. Even the powerful proton beam cannon had been heavily modernized and had become more featured on ships, despite its enormous amount of fire power and power drain. Hypervelocity guns had been seen on ships for decades it felt like and they were no longer special to be seen on ships. I could quite figure out why he had bothered with a formal dinner though, or why he needed this many different specialists. Electronics, Design, Droids programming, and a pair that I didn’t quite recognize, a big man and another, introduced to me as Glith.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Dinner was plated and brought out to us as was several different wines, ales, and drinks, though I noticed many of the men seated were not drinking. I still wondered why we were here or what we were expected to do after dinner. I quietly leaned over to Kira to get Benji’s attention “What do you suppose we are doing here?” I asked quietly.

Kira, never one to remain particularly quiet spoke in a normal conversational voice. “Well that’s Glith a starship designer, and that’s Terrick, plus you have a half dozen other weapons and electronics experts with a healthy mix of sub-specialties and experience in other fields. I’d say we are building one nasty looking ship.” She answered. She had been the one to design the Witch Fire close-in-weapon-system, and she was well aware of the scientific community, unlike myself. Really her and Benji did most of the work at ArmaTech.

“Thank you Kira,” I said shifting to face back to the Grand Admiral, I could hear Benji chuckling quietly to himself, “So since the cat is out of the bad, what exactly are we making for you this time Grand Admiral Quee.” I asked politely, wanting to know the full story here about what was going on.

[member="Gir Quee"]

 

[Gir Quee]

"It is a capital ship," admitted Gir, "because of the netherworld event, the Republic has found itself without any large star destroyers in production. This fact is not something that we can simply ignore, even if the Sith have not started a large offensive against us yet. We must start getting the ships built to replace expected losses with the One Sith fleets. I'm aware that ArmaTech has recently come out with a new point defense system, which I would like to include on this new vessel, currently titled the Champion-class. Would one of you care to explain the system to everyone else present? I realize that this is somewhat off the cuff, but it's an informal occasion, we don't need fancy holo-projector images to demonstrate things, just the basic concept."

The blonde man took the moment to Gir was not one to talk about technical details if he had to, but he knew that even the tiny things would be important to all of the engineers present. He guessed that doubtlessly tonight would likely start some lengthy technical exchanges between the engineers present. In the same vein, it would also serve to help better expose the major players of the Champion Project to each other. Gir glanced from [member="Draco Vereen"] to Benji; the man from Hast wasn't sure which one of them would step to the plate.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

A big capitol ship, huh. Makes plenty of sense, just didn’t see how ArmaTech came into play. They could have easily just purchased the point defense weapons we had produced if that’s all they were after. I knew that there was something more to the Grand Admiral’s sending for us. He must have other systems in mind for this thing, or he wanted us to supply men and skilled labor to the actual production of the vessels. I figured if he was including the ACS-801 he intended to have plenty of these ships floating around. Dinner had been a way to invite us without broadcasting all the comm channels about building a new ship, even if a skilled or very smart individual could piece the information together. Champion-class would need to be big and scary if it was going to measure up to the likes of the Maladi-class, Wryylock-class, or worse than those the Immortal-class which was effectively a flagship at half the size. I had lots of questions about the intentions of the ship, well beyond what had been explained thus far, like its combat role, its expected capabilities, and what would be its main armament. When the admiral asked us to explain the ACS-801 I figured I could give an explanation, but it would be far too rudimentary.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

I motioned for Kira Rauter, the actual designer, to give a rough explanation of the ACS-801 that Gir was referring to. “Kira, you handle this one.” I said looking to her. She blushed. She was really regretting wearing a cocktail dress to this outing now, and I was going to make her suffer a little for it.

She stood up and addressed the Grand Admiral, “The ACS-801 Witch Fire is basically a very limited droid brain, sensor suite, and targeting computer attached to a large internal power generator and coolant system. The weapon is an upscale rotary blaster cannon capable of firing twenty five bolts per second. Furthermore it is long ranged for a blaster cannon, effective up to five kilometers. The computer that operates the weapon can be overridden to allow for manual operation. The computer is connected and controlled by the ship’s main computer system, and can be adjusted from the bridge. The sensor suite is standard close range sensors designed to detect normal space craft and missiles inbound relative to the craft the system is featured on.” She said, explaining the basics of how the weapon worked. She wasn’t happy but I motioned for her to continue with her explanation as she hadn’t gone into how it worked yet.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

She glared at me a little as I spoke, “Go on, they need to know how come it doesn’t shoot everything.” I was smiling, enjoying myself, as was Benji. Kira was normally the one playing jokes on us, so some sweet revenge was nice.

She turned her attention back to the other engineers and designers. “The computer operates on four basic requirements. First it will not engage targets marked as friendly, but will engage non-marked units as though they are hostile. Second it will not engage targets that are not approaching the vessel. If the target is leaving it is ignored. Third it will not engage targets with too large a mass. Larger ships are too powerful to effectively engage with this weapon so they are ignored. Finally is the target moving fast enough? Things that move very slowly, relative to the ship aren’t likely to be heavily damaging, unlike missiles and Starfighters.” She took a breath, “In conclusion the weapon is an effective counter to missiles and torpedoes due to its construction and targeting protocols, however it will be ineffective against heavily armored gunships and more weapon systems will be needed to engage bombers. This means it is best used in conjunction with standard defensive guns like quad laser cannon turrets or flak cannons.” She curtseyed to the Grand Admiral and took her seat when she had finished speaking.

[member="Gir Quee"]

 

[Gir Quee]

That one has spunk. If Gir was unsure of Kira during his first visit to ArmaTech, he certainly was more sure of her character now. Apparently that hadn't been an off-day. The blonde man quickly turned his eyes from her to the other engineer's present, though between people eating and trying to put on appearances, he wasn't entirely sure how they were reacting to her, even if they did understand the basics of the system. I guess I'll speak. He cleared his throat.

"Thank you, Kira," said Gir, "the Champion-class will be among the first vessels to field this close quarters weapon system, and like she mentioned, it will be in conjunction with our typical flak cannon and quad laser cannons. I know this probably seems rather dry to many of you at this point, but it's important.

Because the Champion is designed to be a relatively faster platform than many of the assault ships, like our own Avenger-class, it is critical that the ship's active defenses are perfectly synced to work together in concert. Missile and warhead hits on the Champion-class will likely be damaging than they would be to that sort of assault ship."

"What's the basic premise of this concept?" asked Azira.

"The premise is that since we have sufficient stocks of Avengers right now, the Champion will be designed to complement it. Unlike the Avenger, it will be faster, more of a capable starfighter carrier, and be oriented for close range fighting, though it will not be as heavily armored or armed as it. Does anyone have anything they want to point about the basic concept that they would like to address before we proceed further. Flaws, concerns, ideas to include or improve?"

[member="Draco Vereen"]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

I had some concerns about this idea. The Avenger-class was good and all, and making a ship to complement it was a good idea, but knowing it would be used for close quarters fighting made things simpler. “I have just a few quick concerns. Since its designed to get in and punch its opposition shouldn’t we actually tool it to have some slugging power. We want this thing to me an upscale Darkblade or Wyyrlock, without the range. In order to do that it will need to be bestial up close.” I knew mentioning the Sith ship would get some grunts and a decent reaction. But it was a legitimate concern when dealing with the Sith Fleet. They had started production of some real nasty stuff, and we needed a good counter and quick. “Secondly Hypervelocity guns. They are fleet stoppers when utilized properly, and certainly more useful than their weight of turbolasers. Maybe we should feature some of those big guns on the Champion to allow it to compete with these bigger, more potent ships coming out these days.” I nodded back to the Admiral to denote that I was done speaking and retook my seat at the table. “As always ArmaTech is going to put forth as much as is needed Admiral, just let us know what you need.”

[member="Gir Quee"]

 

[Gir Quee]

Gir nodded in agreement, "The current concept of the design does use turreted hypervelocity cannons for part of that punch. It also uses government foundry produced Pulse turbolasers and Lucerne Labs-built mass driver cannons. The intent is to build the best ship that we can using the best that the Republic and our companies can provide in our fight to protect the Republic and its people from the ravages of the One Sith.

As we eat, let us all start, and I hate to use this word, but let us all start brainstorming ideas, technologies, and people that can help make this concept a reality. After we are finished with dinner, we will move to a conference room for further discussion and a more in depth look at the current state of the project."

The group began their eat their meal and chit-chat among themselves. The menu had been catered to the species involved, if not the individual's preferences if they were known. He spared a glance to his adopted brother's plate. Somehow, Salmakk had found both frozen ormachek and creampuffs filled with still live crabs delicious. Gir himself began to cut up slices of meat from his own entree, a spicy braised bantha fillet accompanied by a lemon-flavored orzo and a tiny green salad with a balsmaic vinaigrette dressing and crumbles of a soft white cheese. He spared a glance at [member="Draco Vereen"].

"So how's your food?"

 

[Laira Darkhold]

My food was good. It looked too fancy for me, but it tasted excellent. Especially considering my normal diet consists of protien bars and nutrient paste. A good medium rare nerf steak with steamed vegetables on the side all dolled up to make it look nice. “It’s good, Admiral. Thank you for inviting us.” I said as he asked about my dinner. I still wasn’t sure what to make of all this. It wasn’t particularly and elaborate ruse, but it had served its purpose well enough, and there were a good mix of professionals in the room. Kira was having some kind of grilled fish that appeared pink while Benji was digging into some weird looking grubs. “How can you eat that?” I asked him quietly.

He blinked and looked at what he was eating “I have seen you eat actual womprat, Draco. Don’t complain about me eating grubs.” He said. He wasn’t wrong, but that had been on one rare occasion where food had been scarce in the area and womprat had been readily available. Kira giggled at the thought of me pulling off meat from a womprat.

I changed the subject as dinner started to wind to a close, “When is production expected to begin on a prototype?” I asked the Grand Admiral.

[member="Gir Quee"]

 

[Gir Quee]

This is pretty good. While Gir typically didn't have bad meals (he found the galleys of most Republic ships to have perfectly edible if sometimes bland food), this one definitely was more upscale than normal for him. He found himself savoring the food despite knowing well that it would end soon. The project is too high priority to accidentally offend one of them with the wrong food. Come tomorrow, he would be eating the same food as the rest of the sailors around him. But that didn't bother him in the least; there was a certain camaraderie in eating with the joes that kept his ship running around the clock.

"It already has," replied Gir, slicing up another part of his meal, "but it's literally just the ship's main reactor, as the power plant has already been chosen. About a thousand kilometers away, the crews are starting to build the shielding that will go around the powerplant. After that, they'll start building scaffolding around it to form the base of a hull structure to build off of. We're going with a nonlinear development program, not unlike that used on the Steadfast or Arendal-classes for development. It's faster to get things done with, though admittedly, the designs aren't always as perfect as a more carefully planned out ship using conditional development procedures. But we need ships sooner rather than later, if at all possible. If you would like, I can take you there after the dinner. The engineers will want to talk more, I'd imagine, but not being engineers ourselves, it might be more interesting to visit the yards. If you come with me, I can even start to get your people in-processed with security clearances and the like. With a little luck, we can have access for everyone into the yards by tomorrow, or at the very latest, assuming we run into a lot of red tape, the end of the week."

[member="Draco Vereen"]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

“I would love to go out there and get familiar with the design and the plans as soon as we can. I think that my crews can get to work implementing the design rapidly and get the show underway. The last time we did a job we were able to complete it ahead of schedule. Granted it wasn’t as complex as assisting in starship building but ArmaTech work crews can help get the job done quickly.” I told the Admiral, proud of my workers’ accomplishments and their dedication to the job at hand. I was a capable foreman and had proven my ability to organize work forces and logistics pertaining to construction. “What do you say, contracting an ArmaTech work crew with me at the helm as foreman and we crank out your new monster as quickly as we can, as efficiently as we can, and as good as can be done?” I asked the Admiral in between bites of my steak. It was a promising venture with lots of perks, and would grant my crews the experience they needed if I was going to expand into the realm of vehicle production. I smiled at Benji as I finished my plate, “I am in the mood to get moving and get this project finished.” I said to no one in particular.

[member="Gir Quee"]

 

[Gir Quee]

Gir briefly thought the matter over. It probably wouldn't hurt to get some fresh blood in the project. At the very least, it'll make Glith lead her crews all the more competitively...Taking a his glass, the man downed a gulp of sparkling red juice and considered the paperwork it would take to make that happen. It probably won't be too much harder, especially since some of them are already getting security checks. I could make it an addendum to an existing order...It's worth a shot. He set down the glass and wiped his mouth.

“I'll need the names of your people that went on the crew,” said the grand admiral, “as well as their identifying information for a background check, but I would like to make it happen as well. It would be good to have some more motivated workers on the project. I'll also arrange some exception orders temporary transferring your place of duty to the yards here for the duration of this project. That way you won't have to be shuffling between your normal duties and your supervisory duties here. Does that sound acceptable?”

Gir slid the last piece of braised bantha steak into his mouth, letting its spicy juices linger for a few moments before swallowing it. Glancing around, the man from Hast could see that many of the attendees were finishing up with own meals. Soon it will be time to start the actual work. He pulled out his comlink and tapped two buttons. He brought the cylinder to his lips.

“Captain Hep, please have a ground crew prepare my personal shuttle for launch.”

“Yes sir. Will you be needing a pilot?”

“No, but thank you.”

[member="Draco Vereen"]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

I could see the look in Glith’s eyes when I mentioned coming aboard to assist in the building process. She wasn’t happy about having help, and she might not cooperate, but I could be persuasive if I needed to be. Besides we were on the same team, I would ensure not to step on her toes too much, and when this was finished she wouldn’t be able to argue with the results that my crews work harder, faster, and better than most. It was just a fact. The last big mission I had led like this had consisted of twenty of my own men and almost ten thousand others, and I had been contracted to lead the venture. This time I was just assisting with it, and would just be working to install ArmaTech weapons onto the vessel as well as trying to edit in some designs of my own. I had researched the ancient Turbulent-class Star Destroyer and I really liked the idea of creating a labyrinthine design into the vessel to assist in repelling and confusing boarding actions, and I liked the idea of having a central citadel around the most vital parts of the ship that could be locked down and secured using extensive, heavy, bulkheads with reinforced blast doors.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

I addressed the Admiral when he finished speaking, “Yes sir, I will have a list sent to you as soon as possible. I figure I bring a good two hundred fifty additional workers to the party we can knock this thing out and get the prototype underway in no time flat. Especially with Glith here running the show.” I said nodding in acknowledgement of the other ship designer. “I would appreciate the transfer as it will limit the amount of time I spend in transit between the numerous locations I would otherwise be sent.” I think this whole thing might work out. After addressing Grand Admiral [member="Gir Quee"] I turned to Benji, “Why don’t you and Max work up a list of skilled labor workers to bring out, me and Kira will go ahead to the ship and give it a good once over and acquaint ourselves with the system.” I said to the elderly duros who nodded in acknowledgement.

Kira however spoke up, “Draco, I didn’t bring a change of clothes. I can’t exactly trounce around a construction site in this.” She said, and she was right, it would be terribly inappropriate attire for construction.

“I am sure they have some navy fatigues to hold you over until the work crew comes out with some of your luggage,” I told her. On a naval base there would be an abundance of uniforms on hand for her. “What do you say we get started sir?” I said addressing the admiral once again.

 

[Gir Quee]

Gir finished up the last of his meal and nodded. The engineers were beginning to finish their own and beginning to filter in and out of the adjacent conference room. Salmakk and Terrik stood at one of the conference room projectors, which displayed the proposed dagger-like hull of the Champion-class. From this distance, it appeared to the grand admiral to be almost a clone to the old Imperator-class Star Destroyer. But the blonde man knew better from having seen various concept designs of it at a closer range. The man turned his eyes to Kira.

"We look like we have almost similar heights and builds. I have a spare set of fatigues, never worn, in my shuttle's bay. You're welcome to change into them in the shuttle's refresher room on our way to the ship," offered Gir, rising from the table, "if not, I can try and have Lieutenant Lod check out some clothes from the quartermaster, but there's not guarantee that they'll be any better of a fit than my own."

Gir started to lead [member="Draco Vereen"] out of the room towards the hangar bay below where his own ship, the Remember Hast, was being prepped for takeoff. The man turned his eyes to meet those of the other soldier.

"Have you ever worked on designing or building a ship before? If you have, what was your experience like?"